Boxford resident Mkaya Mwamburi is having an eventful year—in May, he was appointed Director of Tufts University’s new Global Center for Public Health, and on December 5, the Center celebrated its official launch day.

Anna Burgess/Aburgess@wickedlocal.com

Boxford resident Mkaya Mwamburi is having an eventful year—in May, he was appointed Director of Tufts University’s new Global Center for Public Health, and on December 5, the Center celebrated its official launch day.

Mwamburi, who was a surgeon in his native South Africa before earning his PhD from Tufts, has been working to create the Center for Global Public Health (CGPH) for about 3 years now. The Center, he explained, is part of the Tufts School of Medicine, and within that, the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine.

"[International public health] research has been going on for the last 15 years or so, but our faculty members were mostly doing it as individuals because of their own interest," Mwamburi said. "This center has been getting everyone together, because if we work together we can get more funding and have a better impact [globally]."

The CGPH, he said, is primarily a research center; currently, research projects are under way in Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, and several South American countries. Two faculty members also work in Geneva, with the World Health Organization.

However, said Mwamburi, all faculty members also teach global health courses. Now that the Center has launched, faculty plan to start collaboration with researchers at other Tufts schools and other universities, as well as their own students.

"Sometimes we need to collaborate with other schools within Tufts and outside Tufts, so my role is to identify our strengths and our gaps, and how to fill those gaps with collaborations," Mwamburi said.

"[We also] offer platforms for students to work abroad and get real life expertise," he added. "There were opportunities for Public Health students to go abroad before, but now the center is one location where you can get all the info and get connected with other students."

Mwamburi explained that he was the natural choice for CGPH director, because he’s been working on this project from the beginning, along with Department of Public Health and Community Medicine Chair Aviva Must, and Associate Chair Christine Wanke.

"I was mostly chosen [because of] my drive in identifying the need for the Center and really pushing for it," he said. "People had thought about [a center like this] but for me it was, ‘we really need to do this thing.’"

Now, Mwamburi said, "My number one role is make sure we’re as cohesive as possible, and use university resources as efficiently as possible."

As director of a new organization, Mwamburi said that he wants to help shape the focus the CGPH takes in the coming years. His own background is in rural African health research, mostly focused on HIV.

"Right now we have a clinical trail in Kenya," he said, "As well as additional studies where we’re trying to understand the role of social and cultural factors in how HIV progresses and how treatment works."

Despite this focus in his work, Mwamburi said that he does not want the CGPH to focus only on infectious diseases.

"A big push in the center is a transition from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases," he said. "Generally people assume that poor people don’t get diabetes or heart disease…when people think of global health they think of HIV or malaria. But I’ve recognized that non-communicable diseases are causing death in rural Africa, and it’s going to be a huge problem in coming years."

Mwamburi has many plans for the Center, but reiterated that, "[First], we need to be competitive enough to convince research funders that we have both the skills and the connections to work with other people that have [skills we lack]."

He explained that the more competitive the CGPH is, the more funding they will receive, and the greater their impact will be.

"It’s one thing to do the research," he said, "but it’s another to make an impact."

As for work closer to home, Mwamburi said that he eventually hopes to make an impact in Boxford as well.

He and his wife are new Boxford residents, who decided to move from Newton after their children went off to college. But after he’s gotten to know the town, Mwamburi said that he would like to get involved with community projects.

"We’re just settling in but maybe next spring or summer," he said, "I might understand enough about the area and community issues, and find time to meet some people and see if my background could be useful."

Though Boxford is an extremely different community than those Mwamburi works with in rural Kenya, he said that public health and community health issues exist everywhere.

"At the end of the day the environment may be different [in different places]," he said, "but they’re all important to us if we want to live in a healthy environment and leave it healthy for future generations."